FIFA Ethics Committee were investigating hundreds of cases: Borbely

[May 10, 2017]    MANAMA (Reuters) - Ousted FIFA Ethics investigator Cornel Borbely said on Wednesday his committee were investigating "several hundred" cases of possible wrongdoing, some involving senior officials.

FIFA's former chief ethics investigator, Cornel Borbely speaks to media during a press conference ahead of the 67th FIFA Congress in Manama Bahrain, May 10, 2017. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

FIFA's ruling council decided on Tuesday not to renew the mandate of Borbely and chief ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, who had led the clean-up attempt at the troubled organization.

Speaking to reporters ahead of a news conference, Borbely said the move was a "setback for the fight against corruption" with know-how and experience in the cases being lost.

"We investigated several hundred cases and several hundred are still pending and ongoing at the moment," Borbely said.

FIFA issued a statement on Tuesday saying Colombian investigator Maria Claudia Rojas had been nominated as the new head of the investigatory chamber with Vassilios Skouris of Greece, a former president of the European Court of Justice, put forward as head of the adjudicatory chamber.

(Reporting by Simon Evans; Editing by Peter Rutherford; [e-mail]; [phone] Reuters Messaging: [e-mail])

[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.